People are actually talking about this:
When President Bush visits military bases, he invariably receives a foot-stomping, loud ovation at every applause line. At bases like Fort Bragg - the backdrop for his Tuesday night speech on Iraq - the clapping is often interspersed with calls of "Hoo-ah," the military's all-purpose, spirited response to, well, almost anything.
So the silence during his speech was more than a little noticeable, both on television and in the hall. ...
...
Terry Moran, an ABC News White House correspondent, said on the air on Tuesday night that the first to clap appeared to be a woman who works for the White House, arranging events. Some other reporters had the same account, but [public affairs officer] Captain Earnhardt and others in the back of the room say the applause was started by a group of officers.
Could there be anything less important to discuss? The military is not turning on the war, or on Bush, and you certainly can not divine anything from how troops who had been briefed on how to behave did or did not clap.
it's important because the line before the applause was something along the lines of, "we're done when i, george w. bush, am good and goddamn ready to say so. again."
i'm paraphrasing of course, but it was a surprising sentiment for people on their second and third tours to be applauding, considering that bush still can't be bothered to say how he wants to end this thing.
Posted by: Jami | July 01, 2005 at 02:32 PM
I said the same thing on my blog on the night of the show.
Posted by: eRobin | July 02, 2005 at 12:08 AM
Well, I wasn't there, but if what the TV reporter says is true, then the troops joined in the applause sort of politely when the Bush advance team started clapping. Maybe your point was the advance team chose a crucial moment to rig the applause to fake a show of support for a key element?
Posted by: Mithras | July 02, 2005 at 12:13 AM